Score: 4/5 Bookmarks

Thank you to Berkley for gifting me a review copy of I Was Told It Would Get Easier by Abbi Waxman. The last book I read by this author was The Bookish Life of Nina Hill (which I absolutely adored), so when I saw this one was coming out I jumped at the chance to read it!

In this book, we follow lawyer and single-mom Jessica and her snarky teen daughter Emily Burnstein as they embark on a college tour, which forces them to open up a little more with each other, discover what they really want (and don’t want) and ultimately brings them closer together. But it’s not without a few misadventures along the way.

What I loved most about this book was the witty and snarky dialogue (both spoken and thought). There were so many instances where mother and daughter were thinking the same thing but still butted heads because they refused to communicate with each other.

I particularly found the whole college entrance process and the pressure put on Emily (and her classmates) fascinating. I went to university in Australia and it was such a different experience to what you see here in the US. Everyone I knew stayed in their home-towns, most lived at home or rented an apartment with friends, but there were very few people I knew that went out-of-state and hardly anyone lived in dorms (in fact most Australian universities hardly even have on-campus dorms the way they do here in the US).

Abbi Waxman is gifted at writing female characters that feel real, honest, and are often hilarious. This book didn’t disappoint and was exactly the read I needed right now.

You can grab your own copy (while supporting indie booksellers) by clicking the button below.

Synopsis:

Squashed among a bus full of strangers, mother-daughter duo Jessica and Emily Burnstein watch their carefully mapped-out college tour devolve into a series of off-roading misadventures.

Jessica and Emily Burnstein have very different ideas of how this college tour should go.

For Emily, it’s a preview of freedom, exploring the possibility of her new and more exciting future. Not that she’s sure she even wants to go to college, but let’s ignore that for now. And maybe the other kids on the tour will like her more than the ones at school. . . . They have to, right?

For Jessica, it’s a chance to bond with the daughter she seems to have lost. They used to be so close, but then Goldfish crackers and Play-Doh were no longer enough of a draw. She isn’t even sure if Emily likes her anymore. To be honest, Jessica isn’t sure she likes herself.

Together with a dozen strangers–and two familiar enemies–Jessica and Emily travel the East Coast, meeting up with family and old friends along the way. Surprises and secrets threaten their relationship and, in the end, change it forever.